1. Hey, remember how I told you that I was going to do a reading this week with two other writers and how I was totally going to die or at least hyperventilate and break out into hives?

Umm, I actually did kinda good. In fact, I think some alien force took over my body because after about thirty seconds of awkwardness and forgetting to say the title of my first piece, I just started reading like it was a totally normal Monday night thing for me to stand up in front of a room full of strangers and read my stuff. And I didn’t get that weird uncontrollable leg-shake thing that I usually get when I’m talking in public. And people laughed. Like a lot. Like in parts where I was like, “Umm, really?? You’re laughing at that?? Now, you guys are just being nice. But, uhh, that’s okay. Please continue being nice.”

Me! Not dying! And a buffalo head.

Oh, and then on Friday, I got recognized by someone who had been at the reading. Uh huh. I’m famous.

2. I have exactly one week left of my two-month summer break. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?? I NEED MORE TIME!!

(P.S. I know all of you who do not have a two-month summer break from work are like, “Shut up. JUST SHUT UP RIGHT NOW.” Sorry. Kind of.)

I wish I could say that I’ve spent the last two months being productive as heck and knocking things off my big summer break to-do list like whoa, but, you all know me enough by now to know that productivity is so not a thing that I do. Instead, I’ve spent a whole lot of time holed up in my apartment in my pajamas. What can I say? The line between being on summer break and being a shut-in is a thin one, folks.

3. One thing I did manage to do this summer: collect an unholy amount of travel brochures. Even though I am technically supposed to be a travel blogger, I’d much rather use brochures and magazines than the Internet to do travel research. So I have this little habit of picking up piles of brochures every time I’m in a rest stop. Even if I have no immediate plans to visit the place advertised in the brochure.

I just cleaned out my car and my bookshelf and came across this huge stash:

It’s possible I have a problem.

Also, I can’t throw any of them away because I might need them someday.

You all might want to call Hoarders on my behalf.

4. Hey, remember when I said I needed a new computer, and I asked you all for advice on what computer I should buy and you guys were totally unhelpful? Remember that?

Well, I have a new (to me) computer. (No help from you guys!)

New computer! And, yes, it is a PC. Please do not burn me at the stake.

And, for the first time in a year, I’m able to do fancy stuff like uploading and editing photos without my computer overheating and acting like it’s going to die and being super melodramatic about every little thing.

(P.S. I would not look at either of the albums from Texas without having tacos on hand. Just saying.)

5. Question time: Did your parents used to make this for you when you were a kid? (In case you can’t tell from the picture below, it’s a piece of bread fried with an egg in the middle. And it’s EVERYTHING.)

Best. Breakfast. EVER.

And, if so, what did they call it?

My parents called it “egg in the nest.” (But my friend told me her mother called it “toad in the hole.” Which I just have to say: EWWWWWWW.)

For some reason, I woke up last week craving this thing and I’ve basically eaten it for breakfast every single day since then. And the few days I haven’t had it for breakfast, I’ve later regretted my decision not to eat it. Like, right now, I just finished off a pile of pancakes, and I still really wish I’d had an egg in the nest instead. GAH! OBSESSED!

6. Umm, is it too early to start with the pumpkin stuff? PLEASE TELL ME IT’S NOT TOO EARLY.

Because this totally already happened:

Pumpkin-flavored cider. Like fall in a bottle.

Also, I’m THIS CLOSE to going to the apple orchard. Not to pick apples, mind you, but to eat apple donuts and drink apple cider and feel totally fall even though it’s still August and eighty degrees out.

10. Also, can we talk about Snapchat? Is this something I need to know how to do? And whyyyyy??? I’ve been resisting it for forever, but, at the same time I resisted Instagram for forever, and now it’s my BFF. Just in case I change my mind, I’m saving this adult’s guide to Snapchat. Or maybe you can just explain it to me because reading stuff is hard.

11. Did I just write an entire Random Stuff List without a single cat link? Again??? You guys, I think I’m slipping.

That’s all, folks. Have a lovely week! And feel free to use the comments below to explain Snapchat to me. Pretty pleeeeassse.

My cousins teenage kids asked me to get Snapchat. I said I would but I lied. They also asked me to buy them alcohol because they thought I was the “cool” aunt. They were so wrong.Priya recently posted..Las Vegas First Impression

I haven’t even finished reading your list but I had to scroll down and comment that your friend’s mother calling egg-in-the-nest toad-in-the-hole is TOTALLY WRONG not so much because toad in the hole is a horrifying name (it is!) but because it’s the horrifying name of a totally different dish involving pancake batter and sausages. Which is nowhere near as delicious as egg in the nest.

Okay, so I did some research via Google and it appears that this is a very controversial issue. According to this article, there are any number of insane names assigned to this fabulous eggy treat. Including “one-eyed monster” and “spit in the eye”. To which I have to say: WHAT ARE PEOPLE EVEN THINKING???
(As you can see, I am also quite emotionally invested in this.)

Spit in the eye?! Now I’m wondering, do other languages have such horrifying names for food, or is it just English that’s all, let’s take this tasty dish and call it something really off-putting, that will be fun?zoe recently posted..The other four seasons of the year.

I just found this recipe on pinterest and we’ve been making it a lot. take good french bread and cut thick slices. then push down the middle a bit, to make an indentation (sort of like toad in the hole, but not all the way through. butter the edges. put it on a baking sheet, and crack an egg into it. make several, you’ll eat them all. top with grated cheese – over the bread and the egg in the middle. bake til it is done enough for you. OMG. yes.JessieV recently posted..5 Family-Friendly Places to Eat in Norfolk, Virginia